20th November 2013
Typhoons and Carbon Taxes
Media Statement by Viv Forbes
Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition.
The Carbon Sense Coalition today accused the UN Warsaw climate conference and some world media of callous exploitation
of human suffering in the recent typhoon in order to promote their international carbon tax levelling plans.
The Chairman of Carbon Sense, Mr Viv Forbes, said that the Chicken Littles of the climate scare industry who are blaming
the use of carbon fuels for Typhoon Haiyan should read even their own IPCC scientific report which make no such claim.
Quote:
Damaging typhoons have been a fact of life in the South China Sea as far back as history records.
Living on the flood plains and beaches around the huge Pacific Lake is pleasant and productive for billions of humans
for most of the time – generally the climate is pleasant, the rains are regular, the soils are fertile and food is
abundant from land and sea. But every settlement must expect to suffer huge damage or destruction some time from a rogue
cyclone, typhoon, hurricane, tsunami, earthquake or volcano.
To promote the belief that carbon taxes and handouts will change this reality is no better than modern witchcraft in
which western consumers are to be sacrificed on the climate scare altar.
The UN frequent flyers should have cancelled their fatuous gabfest and donated their time, energy, air fares, hotel
bills, croissants and expense accounts to helping the real victims.
There is nothing unusual about typhoons in the Eastern Pacific. In 1274, Japan was saved from invasion by Kublai Khan
when a typhoon destroyed a huge Mongol invasion fleet. A second bigger fleet in 1281 was destroyed by another typhoon
which was named Kamikaze or “divine wind” by the grateful Japanese. Typhoons were also frequent and severe during the
Little Ice Age around 1670.
Nowhere in the world are cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons or tornadoes powered by the tiny trace of well-dispersed,
invisible carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Anyone who studies storms can observe that the energy of tropical storms comes from localised heat and moisture.
Thunderheads are not composed of carbon dioxide – they are composed of water in its various forms. Water is unique in
the atmosphere in that it can change phase from a gas, to a liquid, or a solid all within the temperature ranges found
on Earth’s surface. Every phase change generates or absorbs considerable energy. It is these latent energies of
evaporation and condensation that sustain storms.
Storms form in areas of sun-heated low pressure where there is a plentiful supply of warm moist air over the sea and
masses of cooler high-pressure air over the nearby land. A mega-storm grows as air rushes from areas of high pressure to
areas of low pressure. It starts spinning because of the rotation of the earth. This low-pressure vortex is then
maintained by the release of latent heat as moisture in the rising air condenses into rain and hail.
Mega-storms are common in warm tropical waters which supply solar heat and abundant moisture. They tend to die over
land, often bringing welcome rain.
Carbon dioxide plays no part in any of these storm processes. Moreover, average land and sea temperature has not risen
for 16 years; nor has the frequency or intensity of destructive storms.
Clearly, typhoons and cyclones have not been stopped by Australia’s carbon tax. They are tragic, but not our fault.
Arguing that a carbon tax and global wealth redistribution are required to prevent typhoons and cyclones is just
nonsense. Using this mad logic, it would make more sense to have a “hydrogen tax” on emissions of steam and water vapour
(H2O) in an equally futile attempt to remove the real driving energy from tropical mega-storms.
ends